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Posted August 10, 2011

Tami Goucher - August Employee of the Month

Tami Goucher is the August 2011 Employee of the Month. Tami works in Early Steps as a Secretary III and has been with All Children's since 1989. A fellow employee recognized Tami's Service Excellence, saying:

We recently had our quarterly community screening at the Education and Conference Center (ECC) in collaboration with the Early Learning Coalition. Experience has shown that there will be a few no-shows for the appointments. At about 11 a.m., Tami escorted a mom to the ECC. Evidently, the mom had shown up at the Early Steps office instead of where she needed to go. There was some hesitation as to whether she could still participate, as her appointment had been set for 9:15 am, but it was important to help this family, especially because Tami had gone to the trouble of walking them down to the ECC.

After the screening and wrap-up I stopped by the Early Steps office to thank Tami for her effort, as the mom really needed our support and some help. I asked Tami why she did not just point her in the direction of the ECC. She explained that apparently the mom either lost or misplaced her paperwork but wanted to make sure she made it to the receiving appointment. She did not have her own transportation and had taken the bus with two small children in tow, and had been here since 8:45 am. She had quite an odyssey, starting at the main hospital, and then going to the OCC, Rothman Center, Sexton Building and lastly the Early Steps office before finally arriving at the ECC. Tami explained that she just wanted to make sure that rather than being 'pointed' in another direction, the mom found the place where she was supposed to be. I knew there was a reason that Tami had gone above and beyond to help this family who otherwise might have gotten 'lost' another time and, with no car and no phone, this parent may have been too discouraged to try again when her child really needed help to be successful and might have missed out on the opportunity of Early Intervention.

Tami's Department Director added:

Tami seems to have a sixth sense when it comes to helping families and their kids and her fellow employees. When families walk in the front door of Early Steps, Tami is there to greet them and immediately puts them at ease with her professionalism and awareness of their concerns. With her fellow employees, Tami is always ready to offer her assistance and to help with improving Early Steps processes.

Thank you Tami for your wonderful Service Excellence and going above and beyond to make a difference for this family. Congratulations for receiving the August Employee of the Month honors!